Cyrus Faryar's second album is similar to its predecessor, but more finely crafted musically and sonically, courtesy of producer John Simon. He gives Faryar's music a more opulent sound than the artist himself was able to achieve on his first album -- parts of this album could almost qualify as pop/rock, while other moments are closer to "progressive folk." As a composer, Faryar is less focused on this album, as he shares space here with the work of other songwriters, including Fred Neil and Harry Nilsson. The production allows Faryar to stretch out vocally further than he did on his debut album, and the results are often hauntingly beautiful, and also less downbeat than on its predecessor. He had a truly superb voice, as revealed here, and could easily have found a following, but Faryar never followed up on any of it, preferring instead to retreat into his music. Islands offers a tantalizing glimpse of what that was, at its most accessible, to the outside world. In 2006, Islands was re-released on CD by Collector's Choice, along with Faryar's debut album, giving both their widest distribution ever. ~ Bruce Eder